Nearly 40 years after its opening in 1988, Atlanta Chinatown and its food court and restaurants are getting a glow-up. The courtyard garden received a refresh, interior walls now include murals by local artists, and new businesses are opening at the retail and restaurant complex in Chamblee.
While improvements to anchor businesses like Oriental Pearl Seafood Restaurant and Dinho Market were already in the works, property manager Vasti Pichardo said a broader revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown kicked off about 18 months ago. The sweeping project is meant to address aging infrastructure and the need to keep Atlanta Chinatown a relevant, multi-generational gathering space for the community.
Pichardo credits leaders from Atlanta Chinatown and the wider Chinese community for recognizing the need to upgrade the New Peachtree Road shopping center.
“When they gave me this project, I was like, ‘how are we going to revitalize it again?’ The upstairs hadn’t been rented since before COVID. The food court just needed a little bit of love,” she said. “It was one of those things where you’re kind of just figuring it out as you go through it, walk it, and then just feel that you have your finger on the pulse.”
Renovations began with the upstairs offices, followed by other upgrades, like fixing the pond in the courtyard and giving Atlanta Chinatown a fresh coat of paint.
New events, new perspectives
With renovations underway, Pichardo met with local artist Andrew Blooms last year to discuss ideas for making Atlanta Chinatown a more multi-generational community space. Blooms, who used to do markets at Atlanta Chinatown, asked how they could collaborate to continue supporting it.
“We shared a vision. The way I see commercial real estate is that it’s meant to be for community. One of the biggest things that I used to hear people say is, ‘Oh, they just think it’s just shopping, or it’s for people to make money,’ but it’s not,” said Pichardo. “People go [to Atlanta Chinatown] and spend time with their families. Ladies get their pedicures. You go have meals.”
Beyond a place for people to shop and eat, Atlanta Chinatown offers economic opportunities for small businesses. Many of the shops and restaurants are family-owned and operated.
The first order of business for Pichardo and Blooms was to bolster events that honored the past, but looked toward the future. They launched a new website and Instagram account for Atlanta Chinatown, then started Blooms Market in 2025. The monthly market brought in local artists and musicians from around metro Atlanta.
This year, Chinatown’s annual Lunar New Year festival coincided with that of the neighboring Taiwanese cultural center. The Atlanta Run Club hosted a Lunar New Year race as part of the festivities. A festival market operated in tandem with both Lunar New Year celebrations and the reopening of Oriental Pearl, following its renovations.
The revamped Lunar New Year weekend at Atlanta Chinatown, which included a mix of new and traditional activities and events, proved a roaring success. Pichardo and Blooms reached out to other local organizations to host regular events at Atlanta Chinatown.
Related stories:
• MARTA dining guide to Chamblee
• Gula Indonesian Desserts expands a family’s legacy on Buford Highway
• J’s Mini Hot Pot Deluxe in Chamblee closes after 21 years in Chamblee
Lotus Lens Collective, a local volunteer group showcasing Asian cinema, launched a monthly film series in February and outdoor movie nights this summer at Atlanta Chinatown. Volunteer-run, pan-Asian theatre group Chinatown Theatre Initiative came on board in May and holds monthly performances in the courtyard. In June, Atlanta Chinatown hosted the inaugural Buford Highway Arts Festival. Atlanta Run Club now hosts group runs every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., starting and ending at Atlanta Chinatown.
Blooms Market has since relocated to Ponce City Market on the Beltline. And while Blooms no longer works directly with the mall, he remains an Atlanta Chinatown tenant.
Building on momentum
Pichardo continues to build on the momentum she and Blooms created with new tenants like Normal Barbers and more regular events that promote Atlanta Chinatown as a third place in the community.
Momoko Mart, a toy store focused on boxed collectibles that opened earlier this spring, hosts meet-ups and trading events at Atlanta Chinatown. A July trading market focused on Pokémon and long-running anime series “One Piece.” An Aug. 16 trading event will feature a matcha pop-up from Shogun Matcha.
Many of Atlanta Chinatown’s recurring events don’t require a financial commitment to participate, including a mahjong mingle at the food court every first Tuesday of the month.
Related story:
Atlanta is in the midst of a matcha craze
Sarah Thomas and Chloe Hyatt are the mahjong event’s primary organizers. While Thomas moved to Atlanta in September 2025, Hyatt grew up in Tucker and attended Chamblee High School. She’s been eating, shopping, and attending events and classes at Atlanta Chinatown since she was a child. Her parents enrolled her in a Chinese dance class as a means of connecting her to her culture.
“There was a period of time when Chinatown was dead,” Hyatt said, noting a slump from 2008 to 2023. “Unless it was for the New Year thing, it was like nobody was here. And a lot of the businesses, I believe, were struggling at some point.”
Hyatt, Thomas, and other local Chinese adoptees first discussed a mahjong meeting in the Subtle Asian Atlanta Facebook group. Hyatt suggested the Atlanta Chinatown food court as a possible venue. After getting the green light from Pichardo, the first mahjong mingle took place in June. They expected around 15 people to attend. Close to 30 people showed up.
The mahjong crowd brings eager customers to Chinatown’s food court on an otherwise random Tuesday night.
“There’s no downside to it because it gives the businesses more money,” Hyatt said of hosting the monthly mahjong event in the food court.
Pichardo wants to add local art to the food court and upstairs hallway. She also hopes to eventually launch a night market as part of the regular events at Atlanta Chinatown. Pichardo would also love to keep attracting new businesses, while elevating Atlanta Chinatown’s longtime tenants by teaching them how to sustain growth for the future.
“For us, it was, ‘How do we make it multi-generational,'” Pichardo said of continuing the revitalization of Atlanta Chinatown. “I feel like what we’re witnessing is the resurgence of this place because people have a renewed interest in it.”
